Hydropower

Hydropower contributes power generation to one-fifth of the world and is the major supply of energy in 55 countries. Hydropower is a proven and well understood renewable energy technology that has one of the lowest operating costs and longest plant-life.¹⁸

Click the image below for the 101 on hydropower.

• • Pros: Hydropower only requires 3 parts: an electric plant for electricity production, a controllable dam, and a reservoir to store water. It also contributes to fresh water storage without consuming or polluting the water, fosters price stability, is a clean source of power and is effective at storing energy sources.¹⁸
    
  • Cons: Hydropower is restricted to sites with appropriate geomorphology that have plenty of flowing water i.e. Turkey. The energy does still produce greenhouse gas emissions just at very low concentrations and water distribution can be uneven with seasonality and natural disasters i.e. droughts.¹⁸
    

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Hydropower is one of the most advanced and mature renewable energies. Hydropower turns flowing water into electricity and after generating power the water is still available for irrigation and other uses.¹⁹ Power generated by water might be the most vulnerable renewable energy to climate change and global warming. The success of hydropower relies solely on the water cycle which is becoming less of a pattern and more of a small-scale phenomena in many areas as they experience changing weather patterns.